air condition blowing fuses

[gopack]

My air stopped working on the way home today...man it was hot today. Nothing works in the air conditioning area - no air, heat, defrost, etc. Checked the 25a fuse and it was blown. Swapped it out (w/ a 20 that i had handy) and it blew right away. Any ideas what could cause this problem?

('90 Waggy)

[Glenn_tx]

Put another 25 in it, or whatever it originally took. Mine did the same thing, I put some sub-par fuse in it and it blew right away also. I put the right one in and it works fine again.

[Crazy_Jeepman]

Clutch on the compressor, most likely.

[gopack]

Well not just a fuse. I guess I'll check the clutch on the compressor...whatever that means. Got anymore info Crazy_Jeepman for a novice? thanks.

[Crazy_Jeepman]

You would need to unplug the wires going to the Compressor Clutch, this would be right behind the pulley where the Belts run. You should see a plug with 2 wires going to it. One wire is ground the other is power, I guess what I would do is pull the plug and with a couple of jumper wires hook one to one of the terminals and ground it, the other jumper put a 25 amp inline fuse in it and hook it to the second terminal and then to the Positive on the battery, this will activate the clutch or blow the fuse, if the fuse blows the electric magnet in the clutch is shorting out and will need to be replaced. If the Fuse does not blow, it will be a short to the clutch in the OEM wiring. Hooking up the wires to the clutch does not matter what terminal gets the power and what one is grounded.

[gopack]

Now it is working. Hmmm. I put a new fuse in and turned everything on with the heater on, not the ac. Now it works. But when I switch from heat to AC I hear a loud (not extremely loud but can hear it over the engine with the hood up) clicking type noise. Could this indicate something going bad?

[J10Mike]

sounds like when the clutch is engaged....normal.

[Michael]

Bad. Sounds like the clutch or possibly the compressor is trying to lock up...almost sounds like the valves in the compressor.....One or the other.

[gopack]

Can I replace the compressor myself? Reading the book, it makes it sound like I'd have to take it to a professional because of the free-on and stuff.
Should I just keep running it until it completely goes?

[will e]

Originally posted by gopack:
Now it is working. Hmmm. I put a new fuse in and turned everything on with the heater on, not the ac. Now it works. But when I switch from heat to AC I hear a loud (not extremely loud but can hear it over the engine with the hood up) clicking type noise. Could this indicate something going bad?when it does this is the clutch enguaging? Mine makes a pretty loud sound when it enguages and disenguages. All of the parts are pretty darn new and they have always made this noise.

[ August 26, 2003, 08:37 PM: Message edited by: will e ]

[gopack]

Will E - I guess it makes the noise when the clutch engages. Not sure. All I know is that when I have the heater running then flip to the AC it makes the noise, and visa versa. Is that when the clutch is engaging?? I don't know much about this stuff, but I am assuming so.
Maybe I'll just roll with it awhile and see if it blows another fuse or not. Don't really know what to do about it, since I don't think this is something I can fix.